The "bonus rule" of 1953-1957 required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were the bonus babies young men of about 18 or 19 years old, so full of promise and talent that they overshadowed their high school or collegiate teammates and had professional teams scrambling to sign them. This system produced three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax) and several other long-time performers, but the "bonus rule" was also responsible for the destruction of many potential careers. In two years or less, professional baseball lost the likes of John Edelman, Bruce Swango, and Paul Martin. Kelley tells the story of the rule and the players involved, using the files of the National Baseball Library as well as interviews with many of the bonus babies themselves and other players, managers, and baseball executives of the day. He also provides a brief history of bonuses and explains how this rule led to the free agent draft in effect today. Photos.

Baseballs Biggest Blunder CB

Kelley, Brent

Business & Money

Scarecrow Press

The 1940s were years of change in the world of baseball. Minor league free agents were introduced to the game in 1940 by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis; Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 and player after player left to join the war effort with players both below and well above draft age completing the rosters; 1946 marked the first time that two National League teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers, were tied for first place, forcing a best two-out-of three series; 1947 brought racial integration, with Jackie Robinson taking the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers; and the American League saw its own tie for first place in 1948 between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, which was played out in a one-game playoff. This work focuses on 27 players of the 1940s, guys--like Gene Thompson, Elmer Valo, Damon Phillips, Joe Cleary, and Cliff Chambers--who witnessed these changes and firsts personally. The players interviewed for this work had different experiences in the major leagues--some experienced long careers and benefited from the changes while others did not--and they come from diverse backgrounds as well.

The Pastime in Turbulence: Interviews with Baseball Players of the 1940s

Biographies & Memoirs

McFarland

Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations With 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960

Baseball lore is replete with the tales of such legendary Negro League stars as Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson and a few others. But the stories of the many other African Americans, both stars and journeymen, have largely been forgotten. These were the men who barnstormed the country, playing in loosely organized leagues and eking out a living doing what they did best, playing baseball. In this work, 52 players reminisce about what it was like to play in the Negro Leagues, from the great teams and players to the terrible Jim Crow conditions they faced in the South. Now in their sixties, seventies and eighties, these men reflect on their careers with humor, bluntness, and poignancy, providing a rich record of a part of the game that is quickly being lost to history.

Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960

History

Africa

In the mid-1940s, the post-war United States was a prosperous country, and baseball, had its own share of this prosperity. An expanding minor league led to unprecedented competition for young baseball talent. The ill-conceived idea of a signing bonus quickly introduced an element of financial competition into the sport of baseball, much to the discomfort of many minor league teams. Unable to compete with major league teams, the minor leagues pressed for restrictions on the bonuses paid to players. Bonus rules—the first enacted in 1946 and the second implemented in 1953—attempted unsuccessfully to curb ever-rising bonuses and limit the damage this policy ultimately did to both teams and players. Containing twenty-four interviews, this volume focuses on players signed under the strict bonus rule of 1953–1957, which required that players signed to a bonus of $4,000 or more remain on the big league roster for two full seasons before being sent to the minor leagues. Organized chronologically, these interviews explore the lives and careers of the bonus babies with emphasis on their early big-league experience and its effect on their careers. Players interviewed in this volume include Harmon Killebrew, Reno Bertoia, Tommy Qualters, Jim Pyburn, John DeMerit, Von McDaniel, Don Pavletich, Mel Roach, Steve Boros, Dick Schofield, Jim Derrington, Mike McCormick, Jim Pagliaroni, Paul Giel, Buddy Pritchard, Jerry Walker, Jim Brady, Wayne Causey, Lindy McDaniel, Jim Small, Don Kaiser, Tommy Carroll, Jerry Kindall and Frank Zupo. An appendix provides a complete chronological listing of players signed under the bonus rule of 1953–1957. The work is also indexed.

Baseball's Bonus Babies: Conversations with 24 High-Priced Ballplayers Signed from 1953 to 1957

This book continues the riches of two highly praised previous volumes, Voices from the Negro Leagues "interesting...solid"--MultiCultural Review) and The Negro Leagues Revisited ("wonderful"--Booklist/RBB; "voluminous...top-notch"--Public Library Quarterly). The players interviewed in this new book of interviews are Bill Bethea, John "Scoop" Brown, Paul Casanova, Jim Colzie, Bunny Davis, Ross Davis, Clifford DuBose, Lionel Evelyn, Hubert Glenn, Herald "Beebop" Gordon, Raymond Haggins, J.C. Hartman, Joe Henry, Carl Holden, Vernell Jackson, Clarence Jenkins, Ernest Johnson, Thomas Johnson, Marvin Jones, Ezell King, Willie Lee, Larry LeGrande, William Little, Nathaniel McClinic, John Mitchell, Grady Montgomery, Bob Motley, Charley Pride, Mack Pride, Bill "Sonny" Randall, Henry Saverson, Eugene Scruggs, Willie Sheelor, Sam Taylor, Ron Teasley, James Way, Sam Williams, Walter Williams, and Willie Young. Photographs of the players and their teammates and complete-as-possible statistics supplement the interviews.

"I Will Never Forget": Interviews with 39 Former Negro League Players (Negro Leagues Interviews)

McFarland Company

This is a followup volume to the acclaimed Voices from the Negro Leagues, (McFarland, 1998; softcover 2005) which features interviews with 52 former Negro League players from the 1920s to 1960s. Interviewed in this new volume are Bobby Robinson, Double Duty Radcliffe, Red Lindsay, Pullman Porter, Earl Wilson, Sr., Percy Reed, Joe Burt Scott, Willie Simms, Bo Campbell, Big Train Dudley, Mex Johnson, Buck O’Neil, Herbert Barnhill, Bernard Fernandez, Dick Powell, Jimmy Barnes, Charlie Biot, Monk Favors, Alton King, Buster Haywood, Casey Jones, Hickey Redd, Tommy Sampson, John Gibbons, Schoolboy Gulley, Schoolboy Kimbrough, Briefcase Simpson, Doc Dennis, Ralph Johnson, Lefty LaMarque, Junior Miller, Tex Williams, Baby Face Peatros, Big Jim McCurine, Eddie Williams, Zipper Zapp, Billy Fender, Dave Pope, Bill Powell, Marvin Price, Bob Scott, Dirk Gibbons, Hoss Ritchey, Lefty Bo Maddix, Hank Presswood, Mickey Stubblefield, Josh Gibson, Jr., Bobo Henderson, Fancy Dan Porter, Jumpin Johnny Wilson, Quack Brown, Granny Gladstone, Hoppy Hopkins, Carl Long, Jim Robinson, Juan Armenteros, Peanut Johnson, Eddie Reed, Ricky Maroto, Peachhead Mitchell, Ted Rasberry, Pedro Sierra, Jim Cobbin, Dick Scruggs, Sonny Webb and Tommy Taylor. Rare personal photographs and complete-as-possible statistics supplement the interviews.

The Negro Leagues Revisited: Conversations with 66 More Baseball Heroes

The "bonus rule" of 1953-1957 required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were the bonus babies―young men of about 18 or 19 years old, so full of promise and talent that they overshadowed their high school or collegiate teammates and had professional teams scrambling to sign them. This system produced three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax) and several other long-time performers, but the "bonus rule" was also responsible for the destruction of many potential careers. In two years or less, professional baseball lost the likes of John Edelman, Bruce Swango, and Paul Martin. Kelley tells the story of the rule and the players involved, using the files of the National Baseball Library as well as interviews with many of the bonus babies themselves and other players, managers, and baseball executives of the day. He also provides a brief history of bonuses and explains how this rule led to the free agent draft in effect today. Photos.

Baseball's Biggest Blunder

Economics

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